Feed device



Jan. 17, 1961 1. D. ANDERSON 2,958,390

,FEED DEVICE Filed March 18, 1957 f 'United Staf@ Fatemi) ,`M y inventionrelatesito ameansforafeeding"Stripma- 'teririto ,devices which ,perform v subsequent.'operations 'thereon and more particulai'1y,`to ajjnleansflforffeeding ,stripmaterialinto a` device which, in'turn, 'controlsffthe feeder.

lIV-Ieretofore,such devices have either been'independe'nt di the devicewhich ther-liederen.' inteerlmpar't thereof- .The former required antindependent ri/ingmechanism an'd .was therefor very. ...expensive fof L-general. `use- 'The .latter waetoo restricted :andtherefor impractical.

f .'Acwrdnslyaa nrimaryvbiectdf Yth@ .prefse1.1tQinveution Lis;toprovide` an improved fee'dingzdevi'ce Whichis simple lint-construction, durablmand; 1n pensive; in manufacture. 'Another irnportat `4bject,olifthe present @invention isi-...to provide a, feeder wliiizhgis, operated byY the, device Q into which itffeeds l' Y A'further object of, thepresentinvention `is1to1provide a feeding meh'anism vifhifbhanA readlybe adjusted f for variations {in "the strip (material llbeing 1worked. and variations in lthe devices into which itfjfeefds Still another .object loftheAV present inventionjis .to .pro-

videa'feejding mechanism wherein'the 4movement of the lifeederiseffected in agsimple i and, eicient. manner.

f [Still another important `bjectfthepresent invention `is to provide an improved feeding /mechariismffor'feeding strip material into a` die.

.'lhese` I and ,other ebiects l,of the invention ,are accompli'shed and new (results achieved I as will -,beappar entl` vrfrom -the devicepointedoutiin 'the .claims ,and rillustratedin Mthe accompanying dravwng rizherein:

`.device.ofthegpresent'invention; f

..Eig.l2v'is.a.t op;plan viewrofthe feedgdevicef Eig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the device of'Pig. 1;":an'd Fig. 4 lis a sectional view taken `through lines 4-4 of Fig. l2inl the^direction^of the^arrows.

Referring lnowto thefdrawingyitheffeed device desigmated?V generally by numeral y10consists@of a lowerbearing motion of component 30, in this instance a die component.

Mounted on top of bearing block 14 is a friction device 32 which consists of pin 34 which passes through elongated slot 36 in bearing block 14. One end of pin 34 tits into circumferential groove 38 on feed bolt 16. The other end of the pin is secured to friction block 40 which is free to slide within groove 42 of friction block cover. 44. Bearing strip 46 is mounted above friction block 40 in groove 42. Above the bearing strip a rubyber pressure pad 48 is positioned. Bearing strip 46 irn- "p 2,968,390 ce l'iatented Jan. 17, 1961 The strip 50 'to jbe'fed into the Ypress may fconsist 'of ,integrallyf'formed connectors 52 having arms :54 `which Vare engagedby .thejfeed finger. The connectors are fed into a presswhere 'a pair 'of,dies, notshown, causel the .connector arms to be crimped about a conductor. Therelafter, the crimped connetoris detached from fthe strip.

Such a.connectorvanddie set'isfshown in my copending napplication"Serial vNumber 633,409,` now abandoned.'

-- 'ln Operation,. as die component@ Starts its downward stroke,` double acting.cam 28rnovres camjjfolloweri26 VVand movement 'is imparted ftof bolt 116. .fHowever, Ipin 34 7 and fictinhlock 40 resist the retraction of bolt 16.

[Sincefzthere is slightesistance to the rotation of boltl as co mpared fto 'the resistance to its reciprocation, bolt :16,will,rota'.te until cam jfollower y26 comes to a .stop

against 'feed Ablock`12. A'This positionv is shown in dot- -dash in Eig. 1. .Withtherotationof feed boltl16 stopped,

fthe`boltj1s'lides/from themprotracted ,position shownlin V kiot-dashjn Fig.- 2 to the retracted position shown in ,slid line in' Fig."2. This completes the retraction stroke ,of'feeddeviceltl during which vfinger 22 was ,first lifted .outrof engagement with strip 50and A'then retracted while `'rinthera ise`d or.cleared position. o

g .Die component 3'0 hayingyreached4 its downwardrnost position now reverses. fBolt.16, being V,more free to r0- tate .than `slide, ,as fhereinabove explained, rotates V.until fAcam. followertZG-fcomes to` astopfagainst bleek 14,.2shown in solid'lnes'in'Fig. 1. This action causes finger 22 to ,-move Adownwardly ,torstrip .engaging position .while still in .fthe protracted position. 4With bolt V.16no longer free `to rotate, litrslides ALto the protracted .position shown -in dotted, line in Fig. 2 bythe vaction-of cam v28 oncam Vrfollower 26. Ibis vcompletes ,the `feed stroke during whichfeedngergZZ was'broughtlinto engagementwith s trip..v 50` and `then.adv,anced .a full. feed= stroke.

.On. the..next movementrof diecomponent 30, thefcycle :will/repeat itself. l

. If, it is1desirable to transport, the work intheropposite `direction, fthe double acting .cam 28 `shown .in Fig.A f3

could be arranged .with its vs1otoriented fromnhe `upper V.leftto the 4lowerrightinsteadof as rshown.

. .The feed v strip issupportedfontheframe work ,S6

45 mountedon presshaseSS.

Adjustment to y.thegen'doposition :of the feed fingen-for o. any n.basic feediinger travel j is v. made by means offadjustrnent.screwgmoperating.through slot 62. l This will Jock@ cam.28 ,to :die-.component 0 ,i11thef desired position @lefdiferentifeedrlength reauremeatfmay ,bef-comyEpe-.n satedfor by .-ogertravel on the retract t stroke, for the angle. [The .-feedanger amar easily-be; replaced with 4lingers of other configurations to meet any specific requirement of the feed strip.

I have thus described my invention but I desire it understood that it is not confined to the particular forms and uses shown Iand described, the same being merely illustrative, and that the invention may be carried out in other ways without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore, I claim broadly the right to employ al1 equivalent instrumentalities coming within the scope of the appended claims, `and by means of which the objects of my invention are attained and new results accomplished, as it is obvio-us that the particular embodi ment herein shown and `described is only one of many that can be employed to attain these objects and accom plish these results,

I claim:

l. A feed device for intermittently advancing material along a given axis comprising a feeder having;I a

follower associated therewith, a double acting cam for operating the cam follower and feeder, a feed finger connected to the feeder for engaging the material to be fed, frictional means for controlling the sliding action of the feeder, said feeder being freely rotatable about -an axis parallel to said given axis while under the control of said frictional means to cause the feed finger to engage and disengage the material, and said feeder being contained in a bearing block provided with a lateral opening through which the cam follower extends.

2. A feed device for intermittently advancing material along a given axis comprising 'a feeder having a cam follower associated therewith, a double acting cam for operating the cam follower and feeder, a feed finger connected to the feeder for engaging the material to be fed, frictional means for controlling the sliding action of the feeder, said feeder being freely rotatable about an axis parallel to said given axis while under control of said friction means lto cause the feed finger to engage and disengage the material and wherein the feeder is provided with a peripheral groove into which a pin extends connecting said bolt and friction means.

3. A feed device for intermittently advancing material along a given axis comprising a feeder having a cam follower associated therewith, a double acting cam for operating the cam follower and feeder, a feed finger connected to Ithe feeder for engaging the material to be fed, frictional means for controlling the sliding action of the feeder, said feeder being freely rotatable about an axis parallel to said given axis while under control of said friction means to cause the feed finger to engage and disengage the material and wherein the friction means includes a friction block connected to the feeder through a slot.

4. A feed device for intermittently advancing material along a given axis comprising a feeder having a cam follower associated therewith, a double acting cam for operating the cam follower and feeder, a feed finger connected to the feeder for engaging the material to be fed, frictional means for controlling the sliding action of the feeder, said feeder being freely rotatable about an axis parallel to said given axis while under control of said friction means to cause lthe feed linger to engage and disengage the material and wherein the friction means includes a friction block, a bearing strip, and means for pressing the bearing strip to the friction block.

5. A means for conducting material in step-wise fashion to devices for performing subsequent operations thereon, comprising: means for producing -a vertical reciprocating movement; a rotatable and reciprocable feeding mechanism mediately coupled to said vertical reciprocating movement means; means for imparting movement to said feeding mechanism; said means successively iirst solely rotating said feeding mechanism about an axis parallel to the movement imparted to said material and then solely reciprocating same, the means for successively first rotating and then reciprocating said feeding mechanism being one and the same; the rotation engaging Aand disengaging the feeding mechanism and the material, the reciprocation advancing the material; and means for resisting the reciprocation of the feeding mechanism during the rotation thereof.

6. A means for conducting strip material in step-wise fashion to devices for performing subsequent operations thereon, comprising: means for producing a vertical reciprocating movement; a rotatable and reciprocable feeding mechanism mediately coupled to said vertical reciprocating means; means for imparting movement to said feeding mechanism; said means successively first solely rotating said feeding mechanism about an axis parallel to the movement imparted to said material and then solely reciprocating same along the axis of rotation; the means for rotating and reciprocating said feeding mechanism being one and the same; the rotation engaging and disengaging the feeding mechanism and strip, the reciprocation advancing said strip; and frictional means for resisting the reciprocation of the feeding mechanism during the rotation thereof.

7. A means for conducting strip material in stepwise fashion along a given axis Ito devices for performing subsequent operations thereon, comprising: a rotatable and reciprocable feeding mechanism; cam means for imparting movement to said feeding mechanism; said cam means successively first solely rotating said feeding mechanism about an axis parallel to said given axis and then solely reciprocating same; the means for rotating and reciprocating said feeding mechanism being one and the same; the rotation engaging and disengaging the feeding mechanism and the material; and means resisting the reciprocation of said feeding mechanism during rotation thereof; said resisting means including a linking member constrained to move in `a direction parallel to 4said given axis and coupled to said feeding mechanism during its reciprocation and decoupled from said feeding mechanism during its rotation.

8. A feed device for intermittently advancing material along a given axis, comprising: a feeder having a cam follower associated therewith; a double acting cam for operating the cam follower and feeder; a feed finger connec-ted to the feeder for engaging the material to be fed; said feeder being adapted to reciprocate Ialong and to rotate about an axis parallel to said given axis; means resisting the reciprocation of said feeder during rotation thereof; said resisting means including a linking member constrained to move in a direction parallel to said given axis and coupled to said feeder during its reciprocation and decoupled from said feeder during its rotation to cause the rfeed finger to engage and disengage the material.

' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,577,627 Webster Mar. 23, 1926 1,629,323 Swartz May 17. 1927 

